TOWSON, Md. — Who are the stars of
tomorrow? Lacrosse fans were offered a glimpse into the future
Saturday, when 88 of the nation's top incoming college freshmen
— 44 boys and 44 girls — finished their high school
careers Saturday at the Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Classic
at Towson's Johnny Unitas Stadium.

Three years ago, Tewaaraton Award winners Peter Baum and Katie
Schwarzmann shined on this same stage. So who's the next Baum, or
Schwarzmann?

Maybe Gordie Koerber (Denver) and Taylor Cummings (Maryland),
who were named the day's most valuable players, even if those are
gaudy expectations. Either way, future major college contributors
we'll hear about at the NCAA level for seasons to come were
everywhere.

Koerber, the Baltimore native from Gilman School, took three
shots and finished all three, including the eventual game-winner,
to pace all scorers in the South's 12-11 win Saturday night. The
South held a 9-5 halftime advantage, but the North surged back and
even had a chance to tie the game after forcing a turnover and
calling timeout in the South end with 11 seconds left. But Luke
Aaron (Duke) corralled a sidewinding shot on the right wing from
James Pannell (Virginia), Rob's younger brother, to preserve the
game.

In the girls game earlier in the day, Cummings and Corinne
Etchison (Georgetown), teammates on Lacrosse Magazine's high school
girls' national No. 1 McDonogh (Md.), led the South to a 25-13
victory, as each posted a UA All-America Game record eight points.
It was a record-setting fame of epic proportions: The teams
combined to set new marks for total goals (38) and goals in a half
(25), while the South established team marks of 17 at the half and
25 total. The 12-goal differential was the greatest margin of
victory in event history.

Here are some other sights, notes and reaction from Towson:

Go West, Young Man

Koerber, a humble and gracious MVP winner, deflected praise and
credited his teammates for putting him in good positions to
score.

"I had a lot of great players around me, and they made my job
easy. I just stuck a couple close ones," he said. "To win MVP was a
great honor. I'm humbled to even be at this event."

But those around Koerber didn't shy away from praising his
three-goal performance.

"Me and Gordie are really tight. We're real good friends, and we
hang out all the time," Spencer Parks (North Carolina) said. "We've
played with each other a few times, and so we kind of know where
the other is going to be. He's a skilled shooter. A really good
shooter."

Parks set up the eventual game-winner when he dodged hard down
the right alley and skipped a pass through traffic to Koerber, who
fired low-to-low for the score.

"That play, I just saw him open and slung one into him. He was
there, and he finished it," Parks said. "I just knew that if I hit
him in his stick, he was going to finish it."

Koerber is a crafty lefty who "plays Canadian," said South coach
Ryan Boyle, the four-time All-American at Princeton and five-time
MLL All-Star.

"Gordie catches everything. He's got great wrists," Boyle said.
"He's a heady player. He knows how to get open. When he gets the
ball, and he catches everything, then he finishes everything. I
told him, 'Denver is a perfect fit for you.'"

Koerber smiled when he said he has "no clue what the deal is, or
what to expect," going to Denver next year, but added that
offensive coordinator Matt Brown's Canadian-infused "system is
pretty similar to the way I play, so I'm real excited to get out
there."

Koerber's left-handed finishing ability could make him a logical
candidate to slide into the role previously played by All-American
Mark Matthews, now with the MLL's Denver Outlaws.

Local Flavor

Four Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) teams
ranked in Lacrosse Magazine's final high school boys' top-25 poll,
highlighted by national No. 2 Calvert Hall (Md.). Several former
Baltimore-area prep stars made sure to show off the strength of
local lacrosse, and as Koerber said, "the MIAA had a real nice
showing."

"I know some of them, particularly the guys from Gilman —
Gordie, Jake Matthei, Robby Haus — and other guys from
Trilogy like Pat Kelly, Evan Connell and Kelton Black, and I know
some of the names from seeing headlines and whatnot," said Boyle, a
Gilman graduate. "It was a pleasure to see them shine, and know
that the MIAA is in good hands. They're all off to great schools
next year. I'm excited to see them continue their careers."

Seeing Baby Blue

Parks, an evasive attackman with nifty moves, was one of eight
North Carolina recruits named to the UA All-America Game rosters,
which tied an event record. Three of those Tar Heels —
Michael Tagliaferri, Steve Pontrello and Brent Armstrong —
didn't play Saturday since they were in Mountain Lakes, N.J., with
the U.S. Under-19 men's national team preparing for the world
championships in Finland.

"To have [eight North Carolina commits] says a lot. It says
we're a talented class," Parks said. "It's going to help us in the
long run. Some of us hung out when we went on our official visit,
and we haven't seen each other in a while. We still have Facebook
groups, chats, emails, all sorts of stuff to stay in touch. But it
was a great way to get back together."

Young Froc

Jake Froccaro, younger brother of Princeton midfielder and
second-leading scorer Jeff, made a case for MVP, even in the losing
effort. Froccaro (Princeton) scored two goals, won 12-of-16
faceoffs and picked up eight ground balls.

"Jake's a warrior. He battled hard," said North coach Jesse
Hubbard, the three-time All-American at Princeton and three-time
MLL scoring leader.

Garden City's Devin Dwyer (Harvard) and Salisbury School's Mikey
Morris (Johns Hopkins) were the other North scorers with more than
one goal.

Hop To It

Morris clanked the pipe on a couple early scoring chances,
though he showed a knack for the highlight-reel play. His goals
came on a time-and-room laser, and a quick-stick inside finish.

Brown scored the first goal of the game, falling over while
shooting low-to-high, and tacked on another at the start of the
second quarter by converting a close-range shot on the
doorstep.

Both of Black's goals came in the second quarter, as he
connected on a righty sniper coming across the middle, then bowled
over his defender running down the lefty alley before hitting the
bounce-shot.

Psyched To See It

The sight of future Hopkins fixtures showing off their potential
must have pleased Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala, who was seen
talking with several players on the field after the game.

True to Your School

Conestoga (Pa.) and Calvert Hall (Md.) each had four players
selected for the South roster — one shy of tying the event
record for an individual program.

Black, Brown, Kelly and defenseman Evan Connell represented the
Cardinals, which lost 11-10 in late March head-to-head to
national No. 7 Conestoga, the PIAA champs. The Pioneers present on
Saturday included: Bradlee Lord (Maryland, Connor Frisina
(Delaware), Jamie Ikeda (Duke) and Miles Thomas (Drexel).

Lord, dodging from behind, gave the South an early 3-1 lead on
an impossible-angle lefty shot over the shoulder of Dan Marino
(Garden City/Virginia).

On the other end, Thomas was seemingly in the middle of every
play. He picked up a team-high seven ground balls and tied the
game-high with three caused turnovers, while getting out in
transition.

"Miles Thomas and Jamie Ikeda, they're special. We had Ikeada
everywhere on the field, and I had to ask Miles if he didn't want
to go back in the game, because it seemed like he was always on the
field," Boyle said. "I was busting their chops, because we wanted
to win the ground ball battle, and the Philly guys I know are
always scrappy and pick those up. I've had a chance to play with a
lot of Philly guys in college and professionally, and it's just
great lacrosse. You can see why Conestoga has had all the success
they've had."

Thomas, a rangy and athletic long-stick midfielder, might have
been the second-best pole on Conestoga one year ago, as he played
behind 2011 Under Armour selection Brian Dailey (Duke). He could
help the Dragons fill the shoes of graduating All-CAA long-stick
Frank Tufano.

North Quick Hits

- Hubbard called defenseman Bobby Duvnjak (Manhasset, Harvard)
"an animal." Duvnjak won 4-of-5 faceoffs, picked up five ground
balls and caused three turnovers. He showed strong 1-on-1 cover
skills and a knack for clearing the ball.

- Midfielder Sammy Davis (The Governor's Academy/Penn State)
"was flying up and down the field," Hubbard said. Davis, explosive
and athletic, scored in the first quarter on aggressive dodge down
the right alley, baiting his defender with a stutter-step and then
finishing on a bounce-shot.

- Darien (Conn.) teammates Case Matheis (Duke) and Henry West
(Cornell), who led the Blue Wave to a Class M state title, were two
of the game's more anticipated players. Matheis, dealing with a hip
flexor injury suffered in the state finals, finished with one
assist, but showed off his shiftiness and showed no ill effects
from a torn lateral meniscus at the end of his junior season. West
had 1 and 1, and flashed some of the game's best dodging skills
from the midfield. He was slowed last year by a hairline fracture
in his left leg, but didn't let that stop him as a senior.

- Nick Doktor (Irondequoit/Penn) missed several weeks this
spring with a separated shoulder, though he looked fine Saturday.
Doktor scored at the end of the first quarter on a fastbreak,
faking high and burying the ball low.

Light the Lamp

It took nearly one minute, 20 seconds for the first goal of the
girls' game to be scored — the North's Madison Acton (Duke)
sliced between two defenders slipped a shot over the goalie's
shoulder — and the teams continued to score at roughly that
pace for the rest of the afternoon, combining for 38 goals.

The game featured a frantic, up-and-down scoring pace. In the
stadium press box, someone joked: "We're in a scoring drought.
Neither team has scored for two-and-a-half minutes. The South is
slowing it down."

Not really, though the South scored only eight
second-half goals.

"This was unbelievable. It was so great to have so many talented
players. Everywhere you turned, there was another great player,"
said South coach Becky Groves, the coach at Maryland 2A/3A state
champion Century, which ranked No. 5 nationally in LM's
season-ending poll. "I watched the girls practice yesterday —
they practiced twice — and I told them, 'I knew you were
good. I just didn't know you were this good.'"

But Groves had some prior knowledge of the South's strength,
specifically that of Cummings and Etchison, since Century played
McDonogh in late April.

"I was just happy they were on my side this time," Groves joked.
"They're great. They're just great, great players. They see the
field so well and they make everyone on the field better.

100% Reason to Remember the Name

If you hadn't previously heard Taylor Cummings' name, well, now
you have. She'll make sure you won't forget it.

"She's ridiculous," Groves said.

Lacrosse Magazine's 2011 national high school player of the year
scored 61 goals and dished out 34 assists this year for undefeated
McDonogh.

On Saturday, Cummings showed once again why she's expected to
make an immediate impact for the Terrapins. She totaled five goals,
three assists, 11 draw controls and four ground balls.

"Taylor Cummings is going to make her name known right away at
Maryland," said North coach Shannon Smith, the 2011 Tewaaraton
winner and three-time All-American at Northwestern, where she was
the school's all-time leading scorer. "She is unbelievable."

And Cummings ensured he high school chapter of her career had a
storybook ending.

"It was so much fun," she said. "To receive this [MVP] honor, I
am so grateful. It was such a way to end my high school
career."

Etch a Sketch

Meanwhile, Cummings' best friend Etchison was just as
remarkable, matching her eight-point outburst (three goals, five
assists). Four of the combined eight goals scored by the dynamic
duo were assisted by the other member.

"Corinne really sees the feel well," Groves said. "There was one
play where Taylor was open by a stick's length, and Corinne hit her
right on the stick. Boom — goal. She was covered. But Corinne
just threaded the needle."

Said Cummings: "She's an awesome feeder. She has the best field
vision of anyone I've ever seen. She can make the impossible
happen. She's so dominant scoring. She's a fantastic athlete and a
fantastic player. I'm sad that it was our last time playing
together, but to come out and for both of us to be successful, it
was awesome. I'll miss playing with her."

Scoring Devils

The South's Kelci Smesko, a midfielder from Ridgewood, N.J.,
bound for Duke, matched Cummings' game-high five goals, four of
which came in the first half.

As the South pushed transition and created fast breaks, Smeko's
defender pulled off and left her alone near the crease. Smesko knew
what to do, converting all but one of her six shots.

"I was able to get open on the crease and my teammates found me.
I got some great feeds in there. I've got to give a shout out to my
teammates," Smesko said. "We all played so well together. We had a
great chemistry, especially for only having two practices together.
We were successful because we played so unselfish."

Smesko was one of five girls headed to Duke, a game-high for the
girls. She'll be joined in Durham by: Acton, Lincoln-Sudbury
(Mass.); Emma Lazaroff, Fairview (Colo.); Claire Scarrone,
Rumson-Fair Haven (N.J.); and Kelsey Duryea, The Governor's Academy
(Mass.), who did not play Saturday due to injury.

"We're a really strong, well-rounded class, all the way from
goalie through the attack," Smesko said. "We have great middies and
attackers too. We're well-balanced. I'm really excited to get down
to Durham and see what coach [Kerstin] Kimel has in store for
us."

Twice as Nice

Two Boyds are better than one.

The South's Brooke and Kelly Boyd became the first set of twin
girls to play in the All-America game, joining twin boys Rhamel and
Shamel Bratton (2007), and Charley and John Dickenson (2006). In
total, 12 families have had more than one family member play in the
game, but nine of those combinations were both boys; Betsy (2009)
and Katie Mastropieri (2010) were the only other pair of girls
siblings.

Brooke and Kelly, both midfielders from St. Paul's School (Md.)
committed to Virginia, were introduced in tandem during pre-game
ceremonies.

About nine minutes into the first half, the Boyds connected for
a goal. Moments after picking up a loose ball on a draw control,
Kelly fed in front to a cutting Brooke, who deposited the
quick-stick shot past North goalie Taylor Bowman (Towson).

"They have such a connection together," Groves said. "I told
them they were going to play on the same midfield line, and I knew
they had that connection. So the Boyd-to-Boyd goal was great to
see. That just made me smile."

Keep It Balanced

The North finished with 13 goals courtesy of 12 different
scorers. Only Sammy Jo Tracy (North Carolina) from Bedford, N.Y.,
found the back of the net twice, and her second goal was scored
with just more than a minute remaining in the game.

"One thing we stressed on the attack was to be unselfish. Work
together, with one another," said Smith, who has plans to coach
high school on Long Island next year as her budding career gets
underway. "That speaks volumes about how many talented kids there
are out there. They share the ball very well."

Tracy also compiled three ground balls and three draw controls.
Fellow Empire State representatives Anne Heagerty (Georgetown) and
Kayla Treanor (Syracuse) stood out, and each added three draw
controls.